Trump advocated a total shut down of Muslims entering the US “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on”.

Ms Ní Éilí said it is imperative that Trump’s views are not reflected in employment decisions made at Trump International Golf Links and Hotel Ireland in Doonbeg.

“I know that here in Clare, where he is an employer, the people managing on the ground will have no such discrimination in their engagement of staff for the golf resort. If people of any background are the best people for the job, they should get it, irrespective of religion, creed or ethnicity. We need to tell him that he needs to not speak like this because it is disrespectful and very hurtful.”

When contacted by The Clare Champion, Joe Russell, general manager of the Doonbeg resort, said Donald Trump’s businesses have nothing to do with his political aspirations.
“While Mr Trump is currently the front runner in the race to become the Republican nominee for president of the United States, Trump Hotels are not involved in either politics or the campaign.”

“Our efforts will remain singularly focused on operating and managing our hotels while continuing to embrace a diverse base of employees and guests from all geographic regions and backgrounds. On behalf of the Trump Doonbeg team, we will continue to operate our resort with the goal of exceeding the expectations of each and every one of our guests and employees,” Mr Russell continued.

“Trump Hotels was founded in 2007 and has expanded to 10 properties worldwide with three additional hotels scheduled to open in 2016. This growth is a testament to our service, exceptional locations and spectacular properties but is also due in large part to those guests who book and regularly experience our luxury hotels and resorts. Our culture has always been to warmly welcome each guest while on business or leisure,” he added.
Trump’s remarks were made in the wake of a mass shooting at a Californian care home, carried out by two Muslims who the FBI say had been radicalised.

His comments were met with widespread condemnation, with even leading US Republicans heavily criticising them.

Orla Ní Éilí said she is not sure if she would welcome Donald Trump on his next visit to Clare.

“I’m not going to say yes or no. He will obviously be in Clare from time to time as he has a business here and, as we know, he is a very avid businessman. I trust that a lot of the responsibility for the day-to-day management and employment is done by a management that do not, in any way, share his spoken values and his discriminatory values around religion.

“I guffawed at first to think that somebody would say something as ridiculous as he was saying. However, when you think about it a little bit more seriously, it is disgraceful that a man who is running for public office would think and expect to be tolerated, while expressing such terrible and indiscriminate disrespect for a community, from many different backgrounds, who share a common religion. If you put yourself up as a public representative, you have an absolute and utter obligation not to engage in hate speak and this is hate speak,” she pointed out.

Consultant psychiatrist and former Labour TD, Dr Moosajee Bhamjee, believes Trump’s comments were planned with the election in mind. “I think it’s an election strategy. Remarks like that are not good in that he is slandering all Muslims. Most Muslims are anti-Islamic State. His remarks are wrong and they don’t do any good for relationships between religions and communities,” he commented.

This follows an appeal by the golf club owner, US billionaire Donald Trump, in addition to objections and observations from over 40 individuals and groups, from the locality, as well as Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE), An Taisce and the Irish Peat Conservation Council (IPCC) against Clare Coastal Wind Power’s project, granted planning permission by Clare County Council last year.

The inspector recommended a refusal to the wind-farm – 20 ft taller than Dublin’s Spire – on a number of grounds – including the impact the wind farm would have on views from the golf resort and the impact the wind farm would have on the fresh water pearl mussel.

In its order, the appeals board stated that it is not satisfied that the proposal would not constitute a serious risk of impairment to the aquatic habitat of this sensitive species – the EU protected fresh water pearl mussel in the Doonbeg river.

Tuesday’s decision marks the end of a four year campaign by Doonbeg golf club and other local interests to prevent wind-farm development in Doonbeg. Two years ago, An Bord Pleanala refused planning permission to a 2011 plan to construct a 45 turbine wind-farm at Doonbeg.

The board made its ruling on the plan following the authority in Ireland on the mussel, Dr Evelyn Moorkens lodging a report warning that the planned wind farm “is an extremely dangerous proposal” to the mussel nearby.

She said that there are an estimated 7,000 pearl mussels in the Doonbeg river and Dr Moorkens has previously described the pearl mussel as “our tiger, our panda”.

The ancient mussel – that has a life span 120 years – has existed virtually unchanged for around 50 million years, with 90% of all freshwater pearl mussels known to have died out across Europe during the 20th century.

]]>24709From the Middle East to Clarehttps://clarechampion.ie/from-the-middle-east-to-clare/
Wed, 29 Oct 2014 11:03:02 +0000http://www.clarechampion.ie/?p=17939Tourism Ireland invited a group of tour operators from the Middle East to visit Clare, in advance of attending a B2B workshop with Irish tourism companies in Dublin.

The visit was organised to encourage the visiting tour operators to extend the Ireland content of their existing programmes or to include the island of Ireland for the first time in their 2015 programmes.

Their itinerary included a guided tour of business and tourism attractions in North Clare, as well as Bunratty Castle. The visitors stayed at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg.

Jim Paul, Tourism Ireland’s head of Australia and developing markets, said, “Tourism Ireland is delighted to bring these influential tour operators to Ireland for the annual New Markets Workshop, which provides such an important opportunity for our Irish tourism partners. Fact-finding visits like this are a valuable element of Tourism Ireland’s overall promotional effort in emerging tourism markets like the Middle East; they provide an excellent opportunity for us to position Clare and Ireland as a ‘must see’ destination among key travel decision-makers.”